NAR's alternative to Obamacare exchange opens Friday | Inman News

The National Association of Realtors has put together a private health insurance program that is meant to comply with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that was just put into place. It's noted that this new plan could affect as many as 700,000 NAR members, including both those that did not buy health insurance and those who bought it on the individual market. Only about 4% of Realtors are reported to receive insurance through their brokerages. This doesn't mean that all Realtors are uninsured, as about 34% say that they pay for their health coverage out of their own money and about 27% receive coverage through their spouses or other family members. About 36% are said to be completely uninsured.

To handle this issue, the NAR launched what it calls the Realtors Insurance Marketplace, which is meant to allow Realtors to go to one place for all of their insurance needs. Members will need to qualify for the health insurance programs, but the program has just been updated so that health status will not be factored in any longer.